Time takes its crazy Poll... Sonic Youth: Washing Machine

that's a great song, i had totally forgotten about it.

Sund4r, did you manage to catch which "note" the high-pitched feedback is? - it appears at some point, mid-way through the song, and it's not atonal

also does atonality = the inharmonicity of the closely-related frequencies / notes ? or is it an arbitrary-ness (western tonality-wise) of the general "chord" structures?

The broad meaning of atonality = the absence of a tonal centre, i.e. the piece of music is not in any key. Most music has a tonal centre (or tonic): one pitch that can be seen as most 'important' and functions as a sort of gravitational centre, usually giving the listener some kind of sense of stability when it is returned to. (So when "I Want You Back" is in the key of Ab major, part of what this means is that the note Ab - the first and last note of the famous bass riff - is the tonal centre, for example.) Other pitches have different hierarchical roles in relation to this central pitch - the note that is a fifth above the tonic is usually of major importance (and the second-last note of that riff is Eb, a fifth above Ab, as is the first note of the vocal melody). Melodies and chord progressions are usually built around this system (which is what I think you're getting at with your second option). Even music that is not built around chord progressions can have a tonal centre, though, e.g. in Indian classical music. Atonal music, e.g. Schoenberg from 1909 on, does away with this hierarchical system of pitch organization and does not place any one pitch as a centre. The organizational principles that replace it can be highly varied.

I do think F# mostly functions as a centre in "Panty Lies", through the brute force of the bassline and the refrain, but it does seem interesting how dissonant and chromatic it is - any feeling of resolution at that refrain is undermined by the dissonance of Thurston's chord there; it is hard to identify any harmonic progression. (Obv, these are ideas that this band has played with elsewhere as well.)

Linking this discussion on the music theory thread

Doesn't sound atonal to me, it just sounds like he's imitating the lead guitar on "Friction", mangling a melodic minor scale and rendering its changeable pitches non-functional

Television's "Friction"?

Wait, do you mean "No Queen Blues"? That's comparatively straightforward, I think. "Panty Lies" was the one we were breaking down.

forgot to mention the bit on wikipedia about Panty Lies is a) no longer there, and b) didn't say it was atonal but "their most dissonant song"

Panty Lies would be one of the least dissonant songs on Confusion Is Next/Kill Yr Idols.

Yes I listened to No Queen Blues. I’ll give a listen to the other one tomorrow

“Panty Lies” seems no more dissonant than the average track on, say, Psychic Hearts

(this is my least favorite Kim G. vocal style, I think... can’t take it for the length of the song)

ha I like her grunting mode

Idk if "most dissonant song" is a meaningful concept, and it seems that no one is calling it atonal anymore, but I do feel like "Panty Lies" pushes tonality a lot more than something like "Ono Soul", which seems pretty solidly D Phrygian with a lot of fifths in the harmony. (I probably like the latter song a lot more btw.)

I actually think Kim did some pretty challenging things this way in this period, even more on the next album and some of the SYRs.

Yeah there are a lot of great Kim-sung noisy moments on A Thousand Leaves

French Tickler is a killer

https://obits.masslive.com/obituaries/masslive/obituary.aspx?n=daniel-j-barrett&pid=192634435&fhid=25292

Daniel J. Barrett, 38, died Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at home. He was born in Springfield on November 19, 1980. Dan loved and enjoyed being with his family. Dan had a deep and profound love for his only child, Ashley, he passed on his love of reading to her. Through the years they shared some special times together. He was a loving and caring son to his mother and had a dedicated bond with his brother, Timothy. He loved to cook and was employed at numerous restaurants around Western Massachusetts. Dan moved to the Boston area where he continued his passion for cooking as a chef as well as teaching under privileged youth. Dan's last employment was as an instructor at a Christian School in Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts. Dan also enjoyed reading, playing video games, and telling jokes. Dan loved making other people laugh including impromptu stand up at local clubs. Dan had a great love of writing, he was a prolific and talented writer who received awards for some of his short stories. He loved to play music, especially guitar and bass, he even performed in several local bands. Dan’s personal claim to fame was being featured on Sonic Youth’s album cover Washing Machine. He was an avid sports fan and especially liked the Patriots and Red Sox. He leaves a daughter Ashley Geary of Little Elm, TX, his mother Kim (Leary) Vuelta of Westfield, His brother Timothy Barrett and spouse Janea Barrett of Westfield, his sister Christine (Barrett) Bieda and spouse Nathan Bieda of Chicopee, stepfather Mike Vuelta of Westfield, step brothers Jason Vuelta and companion Samantha Dick of West Southbrook, MA, Corey Vuelta and spouse Natasha Vuelta of Phoenix, AZ, Matt Barth and spouse Laura Barth of Holland, MA, maternal grandmother Joyce(Renaud) Leary of Westfield and his girlfriend Sarah Parker of West Roxbury, MA. Dan was predeceased by his father David Barret and his grandparents James and Eleanor (Sheehan) Barrett and Thomas Joseph Leary. Dan also leaves behind a large family including aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, and friends in both Western Massachusetts and Boston. The funeral will be held on Wednesday, April 24th at 7 pm from the Firtion-Adams Funeral Service, 76 Broad Street, Westfield, MA. Burial will be private. Calling hours will be held at the funeral home on Wednesday from 4-7 pm before the service. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to a memorial fund for Dan’s daughter Ashely Geary. Donations may be mailed to 1109 Lake Hollow Drive, Little Elm, TX 75068. Firtionadams.com

Published in The Republican on Apr. 23, 2019

That is sad, Al. Please don’t tell me when the Nirvana Baby or Siamese Dream Twins die; I’d rather live in ignorance...

I'm bummed out by this still

He's the guy on the right, yeah? In high school I had a friend who got me into Sonic Youth, and I always kind of saw the two of us in the Washing Machine cover, with me as Dan.